hey all, sorry for the "you should know that already" question, but i just bought a 60 gallon vertical air compressor from someone, and wanted to know if it'd be okay to lay on it's side for transport? it is oil lubricated.

i have access to a suburban and a couple friends to move it this weekend, but it won't fit in standing up. it's about a 40 mile commute, weighs approx. 300 lbs.

i used the search function, but could not find anything related to this.

It will work much better if you follow the draining/refilling instructions above, and it makes it to the destination still fastened to the truck with the dirty side of the truck down, than if you try to strap it into the bed with the compressor and center of gravity 9 feet above the ground, and it spends part of the trip cartwheeling down the freeway sans truck (or worse, with truck).

I would put down some 4x4s with a band-saw-cut radius to support the thing, and MAKE SURE that the thing is really, truly, absolutely anchored. Don't want the compressor/motor to join you in the cab, especially if he brings his friends broken glass and twisted metal shards.

The remains of a $100K mass spec that slid the length and smashed into the front wall of the trailer are worth their weight in scrap metal.

i made what essentially is a truck bed sized short pallet tonight, and am going to block the compressor in between the back seat and the wood.

and if i do drain the oil out before i move it, the crankcase is the body that the pistons are in, right? is there typically an oil pan or something like that, or is there just a drain plug i can open and then tip the thing over to drain it?

I moved a 60 gallon Speedaire in the reclining position. I didn't have time or tools to drain it, so I put it pulley-up, strapped it down, and brought it home. I let it sit for a day or so, then spun the compressor a few turns manually to be sure the bores weren't full of oil before I fired it up. It was fine.

That said, it's a good excuse for an oil change now, so drain it if you can. If you can't though, it's not the end of the world.

I brought my 80 gallon vertical air compressor home in the bed of a pickup truck lying down about 12 years ago. It had no oil in it at the time. No harm was done at all. I just put oil in it when I got it installed and it's been running ever since.

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